ritei)ernorr,/aamiffirromac
E DETROIT AWISII el RON ICLE
Published Week'y by The Jew . . Chronicle rphl'ahlne Co., Inc,
JOSEPH J. CUMMINS
JACOB H. SCHAKNE sass
Eaters.)
President
Secretary and Treasurer
as Second-rhos warier March 3, 1..11l, at I he De loth, at Detroit,
General Offices and Publication Building
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Telephone: Cadillac 1040
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The Detroit Jewish Chronicle Imib. were pondence on aubjecte of interest to
the Jewl.h people, but tli.claims rerponsibility for an indurcement of the viewo
...reseed by the writers.
June 17,1927
Sivan 17,5687
The Jewish Centers Association.
Upon the successful completion of the season's ac-
tivities at the Jewish Centers we think it would not
be out of place to recall to the memory of the Jewish
public of Detroit a few salient facts about this virile
and useful institution.
J. S. Pearlstein, educational director of the centers,
outlines the program of the association for 1927-28 in
this issue of the Chronicle. His report should be read
by all who are interested in the work of Jewish social
service.
The Jewish Centers Association was organized and
began to function in January, 1926. The founders of
the educational work prior to organization of the Jew-
ish Centers Association were Fred Butzel, Israel Brown
(now deceased), Milton Alexander, who was chairman
of the committee, Wallace Rosenheim, Joseph Selling,
Harry Scheinman and Milford Stern. When the new
board was organized it included, Judge Harry B. Kei-
dan, Bendetson Netzorg, Emanuel Paperno, Bernard
Isaacs, Sol Levin, Mrs. David B. Werbe, Miss Emma
Butzel, and Zella IIimelhoch.
Fred Butzel is to he credited with the organization
of the Educational and Recreational work under the old
United Jewish Charities. It is he who organized six-
teen years ago and encouraged the development of the
Council of Clubs. Many interesting worth while groups
developed under the direct leadership of Fred Butzel,
and the few men whom he associated with himself in
that work. The work was done at the Jewish Insti-
tute on High street, the old Hanna Schloss Building.
For many years it was done without appropriations and
with entirely volunteer workers. It took more organ-
ized form when Miss Caplan came to take charge of the
work in October, 1920.
Its purposes at that time were purely philanthropic
and its objectives were, in the main, Americanization
work. The work of the Jewish Institute was decidedly
of a settlement nature. There were Americanization
classes, sewing classes, cooking classes, and recreation-
al classes for the young such as gymnasium and basket-
ball. It is important to note that the very nature and
character of the work was of the settlement kind. That
is the distinguishing characteristic of the period, and is
a marked point of difference between the old education-
al department of the United Jewish Charities and the
present Jewish Centers Association.
Miss Caplan began gradually to develop and lift the
work above the narrow limits of the settlement. She
began to organize Mothers Clubs. In November, 1921,
the first real Mothers Club was organized. She was
also the first one to start the Jewish Art Exhibitions.
The Music School, too, showed marked improvement
under the leadership of Bendetson Netzorg. In a re-
cent public school contest, seven out of thirty of its
pupils won prizes, four of which were for first place.
The Mothers Clubs not only increased in number but
became potent factors in the community.
The next step in the development was when the
Jewish Centers Association was organized in January
1926. Its direct stimulus was of course the general re-
organization of the United Jewish Charities under Mr.
Waldman's direction. The family welfare organization
was then organized into a separate Jewish Social Serv-
ice Bureau and the recreational work was taken out and
organized into a separate organization with its own
board and its own budget. Note that with that came
a fundamental change in the concept or purposes, or
objectives. It was no more philanthropic in its nature;
it was no more settlement in type; as far as the objec-
tives were concerned, although in actual work the set-
tlement character of the work was carried on and is
being carried on today.
The third step in the development which will come
next year is the complete departure from the settlement
type of work. The new idea to which the Jewish Cen-
ters Association has dedicated itself is the development
of the Jewish community along cultural, educational,
and recreational lines. For the first time an art class
was organized in the spring of 1926 under the leader-
ship of Mrs. David B. Werbe. Mr. Cashwan was the
first teacher and leader, and Mr. Jascha Schwartzmann
is now the instructor. After a year's work its pupils
won prizes, first in poster work, and first, second and
third in drawings from cast, still life, and life at the
recent, Intersettlement Exhibition.
The Jewish Centers Association is entering upon
the third phase of its development. It will eliminate
completely the settlement type of work by introducting
the individual house membership. Furthermore, it is
planned to make the Jewish Center a real community
center by introducing social facilities.
This new phase must lead eventually to the build-
ing up of a Is rger, more unified Jewish Community Cen-
ter. When What becomes necesasr• we feel sure that
the centers ix ill meet with the hearty assistance of all
Detroit Jewry.
Did President Coolidge Slight Levine?
Charles iL Joseph who edits "Random Thoughts"
for the Anglo-Jewish press every' week is usually among
the first to resent any slight to the Jewish people.
Nevertheless, in the matter of President Coolidge's
omission of Charles Levine's name from his congratu-
latory cable to Chamberlin, he is, so far as we know,
alone among Jewish editors in refusing to consider the
slight seriously.
"It is to be deplored that some of our excitable Yid-
dish papers become hysterical because of fancied
slights to individuals on the ground that they are Jews."
remarks Mr. Joseph editorially in the Jewish Criterion
ws-irzn-
Ie"tau
of Pittsburgh. Then he goes on to remind his readers
that "Later the President (lid in a formal message to
President llindenberg include Levine's name which
shows how completely ridiculous and uncalled for was
the statement of The Day.'" The reference to "The
Day" was in regard to that newspaper's widely quoted
comment. What this Yiddish newspaper had to say
about the matter may be seen in the following which is
gleaned from its editorial published a week ago Tues-
day:
We have always been told that the greatest, highest
and, perhaps, only political virtue of President Coolidge
is his economy. We were told about it we could not
always see it and we often wondered where this legend
of economy sprung from. At last, we, too, are convinced
of the great economy of our President. Ile is so parsi-
monious, he watches so closely the cash register of Uncle
Sam that even the great sum of 66 cents (the cost of
cabling three words to Germany) is of importance to him.
As soon as Clarence Chamberlin and Charles A. Le-
vine arrived in Germany President Coolidge sent a cable
to the American Ambassador in Berlin congratulating him
in the name of the United States of America upon the
great achievement of the Columbia. It is in this cable of
the President that we note with amazement the mention
of only one name, the name of Clarence Chamberlin.
Two men left New York; two men riskd their lives;
two men have shown heroism and created a record even
greater than Lindberg's Two men left; two men arrived,
Americans both. But the President of the United States
congratulates only one, and by a strange coincidence the
one whom the President has not found worthy of being
mentioned is named Levine..
Granted that Chamberlin deserves the greater part of
the credit, because the fate of the New York-Berlin flight
depended on his skill as a pilot; but was not Charles A.
Levine his passenger? Ile had no merit at all both as
owner of the plane and as passenger who showed such
prowess, no much sportsmanship.
They understood it in England; they felt it in Italy.
They, the English, the Italians, all the Europeans, do not
separate the names of Levine and Chamberlin. They see
in the deed of Levine even more heroism than in Cham-
berlin's, just because Levine is not a pilot by profession,
just because he risked his life in the interests of humanity
to prove to the world that an airplane can carry passen-
gers, too; that the flight over the ocean is not only an
individual stunt but MI be utilized for practical purposes.
The whole world understands it. The whole world applauds
Levine. Before all the world he is the representative
American no less than Lindbergh or Chamberlin—all the
world but Washington; but President Coolidge and Mr.
Kellogg and the other representatives of official America.
We cannot agree with Mr. Joseph that these words
are either excitable or hysterical. They appear to us
to reveal some very clear thinking. They state the
case with some sarcasm perhaps but the occasion ob-
viously calls for sarcasm. We would remind Mr. Jos-
eph that while it is true that the President did mention
Levine in his reply to President Ilindenberg he did so
apparently only because the German President had in-
cluded Levine with Chamberlin in his message of con-
gratulation to the United States.
"The President of the United States," explains Mr.
Joseph, could not see Levine's exploit in the same light
that he viewed Chamberlin's." Neither did the editor
of "The Day," neither did we and neither, for that
matter, did anybody else. Chamberlin was the pilot
and Levine was only a passenger. But, after all, he
was the first passenger to cross the Atlantic in an air-
plane. More than that, he paid for the building of the
plane. Anyone who would have made that little trip
with Chamberlin would probably feel slighted if the
President had ignored him in his cabled congratula-
tions to the pilot. If, through some mishap, Chamber-
lin and Levine had met the fate of the two French
fliers. the President would have been more tactful. If
the dead are entitled to honor for courageous failures
the living are entitled to honors for their equally cour-
ageous successes.
Another aspect of the matter is Postmaster New's
attitude towards Levine. On the very day that the
press carried the news of the epoch-making fight of
Chamberlin and Levine the postmaster gave out a story
to the effect that there had been irregularities in Le-
vine's dealings with the war department, that he had
been denied a contract to carry mail because of some
vague insinuations against his "character" and that the
mail he carried across the ocean was unauthorized.
Also there were some unsavory remarks about the al-
leged value to collectors of the cancelled stamps. The
impression given in that story was that Levine had ad-
dressed all the letters to himself just to get the stamps
cancelled by the Post Office Department and then sell
the stamps at $1,000 a piece to collectors. As it hap-
pens, Levine had promised these stamps to historical
societies. As for the war department's claims against
Levine they still remain to be proved. Until the war
department makes good its claims we prefer to consider
Levine innocent of any "sharp practice."
Joseph Miller Sues Ford.
Joseph Miller, whose suit against Henry Ford and
the Dearborn Independent for $200,000 was brought
in the Circuit Court last week, has a clear case and de-
serves to win. The Ford detectives who drafted affi-
davits involving him in alleged jury-bribing charges
were perfectly ruthless in their effort to implicate him.
The very use of the nick-name "kid" in connection with
his name was the plainest kind of deliberate defama-
tion.
It will be recalled in this connection that the De-
partment of Justice was instructed to investigate those
charges and make a report. We understand that the
findings of the department in all such matters must go
to Washington and any report that is made must come
from there. The Department of Justice has had the
matter under investigation since April 21 and, to far
as we have been able to find out, none of the persons
involved have even been questioned by Mr. Wilcox
since the first preliminary investigation made at the
time. Even the important Schomberger statement
made on April 22 still lies in the files at William Henry
Gallagher's office and the department has not even be-
stirred itself to get a copy of it.
It seems to us that Mr. Miller's right to a fair investi-
gation of the charges of Ford counsel have been grossly
ignored by the Department of Justice. As for Mr.
Ford, and those who acted for him, they have dropped
the matter entirely. Having made use of Mr. Miller
by fastening the shame of attempted bribery upon his
name and labelling hint "kid" and, having gained their
objective by that means, they proceeded to forget all
about him. But, quite naturally, Mr. Miller has not
forgotten. As long as the Department of Justice re-
mains silent on the charges against him his name re-
mains under a cloud of suspicion. And even if the de-
partment clears his name of guilt Mr. Ford and his
agents are still open to the charge of having defamed
him in order to win a point in their battle with Sapiro.
4-
oep-iT5 [ Echoes From Detroit Pulpits
chAs.
c.JOSEPH,=--
I am glad that an expert impartial commission is
going to appraise Palestine economically, culturally, so-
cially and spirtually. I think that Sir Alfred Mond, Fe-
lix Warburg, a prominent German Jew, and another
whose name has escaped me, in conjunction with a flock
of analysts, economists, engineers and what not, are to
spend months in surveying Palestine with a view of ren-
dering an intelligent report of conditions as they are, to
the end that the average layman can make up his mind
about the value of the Palestine experiment.
•
It's about time. We have had such a mass of amateur
investigators' reports that most of us are confused by
their contradictions. And I would suggest that everyone
turn a deaf ear to statements made by those who have
spent a few days in Palestine, and who have not even
scratched the surface. I have noticed this, however:
That many who before they visited Palestine were avowed
"antis" became boosters.
In one of my exchanges I notice that a discussion is
going on in a southwestern Jewish community as to the
desirability of forming a Jewish social club: some argu-
ing against it on the ground that it is just as improper
to have a Jewish club from which non-Jews are excluded
as to have Gentile clubs from which Jews are excluded.
And the journal in question takes the position that the
only reason for a Jewish club is the non-Jewish club, i, e.,
since Jews cannot become members of a non-Jewish club,
they of necessity must form social clubs of their own.
I disagree with that statement. There are Jewish
clubs to which non-Jews may with propriety be admitted
and there are non-Jewish clubs to which Jews may prop-
erly be admitted. And there are social clubs to which
the membership should be rigidly limited to Jews and
non-Jews, respectively. Here is the difference. It cer-
tainly should be apparent to any one in a Jewish com-
munity that as long as there is the question of intermar-
riage to be considered that it is extremely impractical to
have Jewish families and non-Jewish families meet con-
staptly in intimate social relationship by being members
of the same social clubs. There surely cannot be brought
a single argument to successfully refute this statement
if there is a general agreement that intermarriage is
undesirable. Therefore a Jewish social club has a defi-
nite place in Jewish life.
On the other hand, there cannot be advanced any
valid objection to Jews belonging to non-Jewish social
clubs that limit their memberships to men. These clubs
are usually business men'a organizations, or downtown
lunch clubs and the like. Or it may be a university cluo
limited to male graduates of universities. In Pittsburgh,
for example, Jews are not admitted to the University
Club, which, of course; is inexcusable intolerance on the
part of the officials of the organization. In some cities,
because of the narrow-minded attitude of Gentile social
groups, prominent Jewish business and professional men
are denied membership in downtown lunch clubs and
therefore are obliged to establish such clubs of their own.
Those Jews who are taking a position that Jewish social
clubs are improper are completely mistaken and will
realize it sooner or later.
•
Now Herman Bernstein's libel suit against Henry
Ford is beginning to creep into the open. Flying across
the Atlarila is an easy task compared with trying to get
Henry F to stand up and defend himself personally
in a libel suit. Bernstein, who was a shipmate of Ford's
on the famous cruise of the good ship Folly four years
ago, sued Henry for $200,000 and very inconsiderately
tied up. whatever Ford money was lying around in the
banks of New York. After much sleuthing it was discov-
ered that Ford had only a little 'chicken feed," amount-
ing to about $165,000, or maybe it was $65,000, in a
bank, no Mr. Bernstein tied it up in a knot.
While Ford doesn't care for money, it has been inter-
esting to watch his efforts to release those funds in New
York. He has tried everything possible, but nothing
doing. In the meantime, Bernstein has tried to get the
great court-dodger to toe the mark and fight it out. Fin-
ally, I note that Ford has obtained some affidavits from
six prominent Russian monarchists (one now begins to
see the kind of company Ford keeps and where he gets
his anti-Semitic inspirations), who attempt to refute Mr.
Bernstein's charges that a Russian committee for saving
the fatherland had carried on in the United States anti-
Semitic activities. Now that a start has been made, pos-
ably in the days of our great-grandchildren this libel
suit will be disposed of. I certainly take my hat off
to men like Aaron Sapiro and Herman Bernstein, who
do not scare because a man has a billion dollars.
•
Just in passing I note that another suit has been
brought against Ford for a couple of hundred thousand
dollars by the man in Detroit who was accused by the
Ford ferrets of tampering with one of the jury. It's
getting rather warm, these days, don't you think, Sir.
Ford, with boycotts, Chevrolets, libel suits and other
such nuisances?
There's a young man sitting at my elbow at this
minute who wants to fly to Hawaii from San Francisco
on Aug. 1. Not only does he want to, but he says that
he will do it if he can get a few of the wealthy Jews of
this country to back him. ('resident Dole of the Hawaii
Pineapple Company of Honolulu has offered a prize of
$25,000 for the first plane to make the non-stop flight
and $10,000 to the second. I'll say this much for the
Jewish young man who wants to make the try that I have
confidence enough in his ability, in his courage, that if
the airplane holds out he'll stick to it until it gets to his
destination. Ile was formerly a lieutenant in the Royal
Air Service and he was shot at and shot up and shot
down during the war. Ile believes that flying to Hawaii
would be a diversion. At any rate here he is ready to
offer his life to the experiment. It will probably cost
$25,000 to equip him. Is there an individual, or a group
of individuals or a business organization that is willing
to invest in such a thrilling adventure? If you are in-
terested I'll tell you more about it.
o_
•
The cheap blatherskites who pose as patriots but who
do not know the meaning of the term "patriotism" are
scored in the Baltimore Sun, and since the Jewish people
are frequently subject to annoyance from these one-half
of 1 per cent near-Americans, we like to have these
gentry know what representative editorial opinion thinks
of them:
If an American conceives a cheap idea, if he
decides to promote a movement which is bawd
upon intolerance, hatred and the desire to perse-
cute his neihbors, he invariably organizes what he
calls a patriotic society. If a politician aims to
steal the property of the taxpayers, he invariably
proclaims himself a 100 per cent American. If
a bigot, a fanatic or a crook has to justify some
act of peculiar meanness, he waves the flag and
calls himself a patriot. Patriotism, even more
than charity, covers • multitude of sins.
All this, of course, is not lost upon Americans
of the better sort. They resent it, but they can
do nothing about it. About their only recourse is
to avoid the flag-waving and hypocritical patriot-
ism of the ignoble and the base. Hence they are
not often found making a public display of their
loyalty and their national pride.
According to a letter received from two of our read-
ers in Miami, Ha., who visited Cuba, that country isn't
much of a place for our people. They tell MC that last
year there were 9,000 Jews there, but now there are only
5,000, the remainder having left the country to go to
South American countries and Mexico.
Here's ■ coincidence. It wa•n't more than 10 min-
utes after I had written that paragraph on Cuba when I
happened on an Associated Press dispatch from Phila-
delphia which said that "a for reaching conspiracy" was
revealed by Franklin J. Graham, Assistant United States
Attorney, who said that there were between 35,000 and
40,000 Russians, mostly Jews, in Cuba, waiting an oppor-
tunity to slip into the United States on freight steamers
or in any other way to reach the Florida line. Yet, in
the letter I quoted from two men who recently spent
some time in Cuba, they said that there were only 9,000
Jews there, which indicates the ‘alue of inexperienced
observation.
The Torah and Shabuoth
By Rabbi Moses Fischer,
Congregation B'nai Moshe.
It is with a threefold crown that
God the Almighty presented Israel
on this day of days, "Sinchath
Lilo," on this day of the most ex-
alted joy. The three crowns are:
The crown of the Torah, the crown
of priesthood, further the crown
of kingdom in the realm of the
spirit. In response and answer to
this act of consummate Divine
love, Israel in turn exalted the To-
rah and crowned it with three des-
ignations and clothed it with three
celestial garments, the fabric of
which was woven on the loom of
love, adoration and loyalty from
the heart of Israel.
The three designations are: To-
rath chesed, the law of grace; to-
roth chaim, the law of life; finally
toroth eines, the law of truth. Each
of these magnifying epithets
marks another aspect, emphasizes
another spiritual outlook of the
Torah.
Torath chesed the law of grace,
is the first priceless jewel that Is-
rael's religious genius placed in
the crown of the Torah. It points
out the truth that the act of Di-
vine revelation, the giving of the
law on Mount Sinai was according
to the conception of Israel in all
ages the supreme manifestation of
Divine love, the very consumma-
tion of Divine grace toward hu-
manity, human society and life, a
veritable "tohu ubohu," a moral
and spiritual chaos before the Rev-
elation—the Torah, the "Daughter
of Heaven," brought order and har-
mony: moral order, spiritual har-
mony and stern self-discipline, into
the world; lit up the light of faith
and conscience in the gloom and
darkness of human mind; preached
and proclaimed the ideas and
ideals of brotherhood, righteous.
ness and love in a world swayed
previously by the elementary pas-
sions of hatred, violence and law-
less selfishness.
"Torath chesed," the Torah,
passed to Israel as the most pre-
cious gift of the heaven, given with
the single aim to lift up and ele-
vate human life, to bring it into
harmony with the purpose of ages,
to transform earth than "athletes
kodesh" to a holy ground and to
sublimate human life into a thing
of holy beauty and joy forever.
The second tribute to the excel-
lency and uniqueness of the Torah
was its designation as "torath
chaim," as the law of life. Per-
haps of all the systems of faith
and philosophies of ancient time
the Torah was the only revelation
that did not detest and treat with
contempt human life; that did not
condemn and damn the body as a
cesspool of vices and the most evil
passions unworthy to be the vessel
of Divine race. The Torah was
the only "Great Book" that did
not conceive as its task and mis-
sion to teach and lead man to es-
cape from the sins, vices, illusions
and traps set up by life, that did
not proclaim that the only thing
worth while for man to perform
and worthy of the higher part of
human nature is to "die" piously
with resignation and hope. Juda-
ism was the first to proclaim it-
self as "life" and to purge by this
methaphor alone "life" of all the
odd contumacy cast upon it. Ju-
daism was the first to turn a
friendly countenance and make a
covenant with "life." It was the
first spiritual agency to undertake
the great task to sublimate, to
sanctify, to purify all the emo-
tions, injustices and passions of
our nature and thus to ennoble
and raise to the level of pure hu-
manity our relations with each oth-
er. Judaism aimed courageously
at the high purpose to bind once
more our sad, poor and chaotic
earth with the golden chains of
holiness, idealism, self-discipline,
and to fasten it to the footstool
of God. "Be holy," Scripture
taught, "as I am holy." "Don't
abominate your soul with things
unclean on earth." "Don't make
unclean by your abomination the
land the Lord has given you as
the nations of the earth have done.
Life and purity the keynote of Is-
rael's mission and outlook upon
life! But not only life and purity,
also life and love, life and justice!
Righteousness, righteousness, thou
shalt pursue in order thou mayest
live on the land the Lord giveth
thee. "Don't oppress each other,
don't withhold till the morning the
wages of the laborer, as his li'e
is sustained by it." "And if thou
hest taken as pledge the garment
of thy fellowman—ere the morn-
ing comes thou returnest it unto
him—it might be his only garment
—anon what shall he rest?" If he
shall cry against thee to the Lord
I shall hear him. The Lord is
gracious! Gracious to all of us,
but especially to His "people," to
the poor, to the needy, to the suf-
ferers, to the widow, to the or-
phan, to the stranger. Indeed to
tl.e stranger at thy gates. There-
fore love the stranger as thou
Invest thyself. "Torath chaim."
Surely the law of life even in our
days for humanity at large and for
peoples and nations. It is right-
eousness that exalts nations.
Torath emes, "the law of
truth," is the third designation in
"the sacred vocabulary of Israel
that it dedicated to the glory of
the Torah. It is the burden of Is-
rael to bear witness to the truth
of the Toral s to the reality of its
teachings, to the visions of the
prophets. It is the sacred trust of
our people to stand on the watch
tower of ages and to guide from
there the spiritual progress and
moral development of mankind.
"Law of truth," it contains
nothing but the truth and the
truth of the highest order. It
heralds the truths which are the
very essence and substance of hu-
man civilization, the driving forces
of man's upward strivings and as-
pirations.
Out of the pages of the Torah
these truths shine forth which il-
luminate with their fire the reli-
gious and ethical horizon of man-
kind. God, conscience, law, hob-
•,•••,,ew. .
••0..6w. so.lio
flec'•wsc`'ct•Aits. lcw.h...co• coul.o"4,-,0
7 .0`'lete`4e7- ct• - ct• •t• -t•
•• ■ •
-
• t• ..• •t, o
-
sss
mess, immortality, hope, faith are
the realities that gave and give t.
the marching centuries their mu
sic; the instrument of this musi
is the Torah and its chief artist
Israel. And how does the hob
Script say: "While the musician
played the spirit of God rested
upon it."
The spirit of God rested upon
our people! It rested for centuries
It aroused in our midst the glori-
ous bands of immortals, of proph-
ets, psalmists, saints, teachers,
martyrs: the hearers and witnesses
of the law and revelation.
Nlay the holy music of the spirit
never die out from our midst. May
it bring truth, faith, love into the
lives of our children. As in the
days of yore, may our children
once more become our sureties,
guaranteeing the preservation and
continuity of the law.
May the law of love, life and
truth once more encircle with its
halo of glory and martyrdom the
brow of Israel.
4 -
,17
.3
:s:
••■
•
4,
:te)
The Breaking of the Tablets.
---
-
By Rabbi Joseph
Thumin,
Congregation Beth Abraham.
Says the Talmud, "The greatest
(lay in Jewish history is that on
which the Torah with the ten com-
mandments was handed down on
Mount Sinai, and the most disas-
trous clay is that on which the
"Shevuroth Haluchoth," the break-
ing of the tablets on which these
commandments were written, took
place.
The commandments handed down
on Sinai consisted of two tablets.
On one of these was written man's
duty to his God and on the other
was written man's duty to his fel-
low man. The breaking of these
tablets brought much woe to the
Jewish people and the day which
saw that destruction may well be
characterized as the must disas-
trous in Jewish history.
But the destruction is not only
a matter of past history to be re-
garded with regret and forgotten.
It is taking place in our midst even
today. Whenever a man disregards
his duty either to God or to his fel-
low man he is deliberately breaking
the tablets of the commandment AA
surely as they were broken in the
days of yore.
Many men consider that they are
fulfilling their duty as Jews if they
perform acts of charity and scoff
at the various religious ceremonies.
To such men I say that they arc
not good Jews. They are breaking
the tablets of the commandment
that bind them to God. Their char-
ity is not Godly, in fact it often
does more harm than good. There
is a vast difference in the attitude
of the Jew in determining whether
his works of charity are holy or
nut. If he gives charity feeling
that it Is a commandment of God,
than he is at the same time, fulfill-
ing his duty to his fellow man. If,
on the other hand, he gives this
charity from the goodness of his
own heart without feeling that it
is his divine duty to do so, then this
charity is subject to his own ca-
price and humor and often he ne-
glects the really deserving in giv-
ing- to those who play upon his
sympathies.
The Commandment '"Thou Shalt
Not Kill" is not interpreted ley the
Talmud as merely to forbid the
slaying of any man. Says the Tal-
mud, "This commandment is ap-
plied to him who puts his fellow
nian publicly to shame." In the
same manner, the comandment
"Thou shalt not steal" is not to be
applied to one who rubs his fellow
nian of material goods, but to hint
who withdraws his accustomed
charity and to "him who steals his
neighbor's belief." By this is
meant that no nian is to mislead his
neighbor and profit by his misun-
derstanding. An example of this
is furnished in the Talmud. Once
a pious Jew was praying in the
bazaar when a stranger approached
and offered a price for a part of his
wares. The Jew in the midst of
his prayers, answered nothing and
the stranger offered a higher price.
Still no answer, and the stranger,
mistaking the silence for refusal,
raised his price once more. By
this time, the Jew had finished and
to the surprise of all he accepted
the first offer. Then he explained
to the listeners that when the Bible
commanded "Thou shalt not steal,"
it meant that the good Jew is for-
hidden to mislead his neighbor and
take advantage of his error. Ile
refused to profit by the stranger's
mistake in believing the silence to
be refusal and thus offering a much
higher price than he really wanted
to pay. In direct contrast to this
is the modern idea that outwitting
your associates is "good business"
and "diplomacy."
In the general disregard for the
commandments, the one which says
"Honor thy father and thy mother"
is just as neglected as the rest. The
Talmud demands that the Jew shall
consider his father as almost divine.
He most rise at the latter's ap-
proach, he must never intrude his
f, pinilm
as opposed to his father's,
in short, he must theat them with
every manner of respect and honor.
But the mutters young man inter-
prets the commandment not as
"baled (honor) es ovicha (thy
father)" but rather as "Kaber
(bury) es ovicho (thy father.)"
So it is that he provides his parent
with an expensive funeral and a
stately monument, and sometimes
on the high holidays he drops int.,
the synagogue to say "Yiskor" in
memory of his departed parent.
It is with a heavy heart that we
must notice the neglect of the com-
mandments. But let there to' no
misunderstanding. lie who would
he a gaud Jew and obey the precepts
of the Law must remember that
there are two tablets, and the
breaking of either means the
breaking of both. Ile who dies not
perform at ens« his duty to Got
and his duty to his fellow man,
breaks these tablets just as surely'
as they were bre ken on that most
disastrous of all Jewish days. And
all the troubles and miseries that
came with the breaking of those
tablets will continue until the tab-
lets are made whole again and kept
together.
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